Monday, February 18, 2008
This weekend will be our second mission outreach for the year.. We are praying for His traveling mercy and provision for this medical-dental-evangelism mission since we will be traveling about 400 kilometers from our home base to Zamboanga del Norte and will stay overnight since it will be too hectic and late to catch the last trip barge from Ozamis City. We also pray for the co-sponsors for this mission that will come from Manila via Dipolog City for a safe travel..We are grateful for these people for co-sponsoring us for this one mission since our resources are now depleted just to last us for a few more mission trips. We are earnestly praying for donors and benefactors to share in His Kingdom Building.
On a personal note, I have been praying for God for a specific relief of my situation which has me in great anxiety and trouble but yet God has not answered...but I still cling to His promises ..that He will not leave me nor forsake me... that our God is a loving, graceful, faithful God. I find inspiration in His Word which lead me to Psalm 27...in verse 13, I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.. I will wait for your answer Lord..Amen.
I am reprinting what I surfed from Paul Tripp Ministries on Psalm 27, Why Would God Ever Answer Me? :
1. Because of his love. He's the ultimate wise, patient, kind, gentle, and forgiving father. He delights in his children. Because of his great love, his eyes look out for us and his ears are always attentive to our cries. Because of his love, he invites us to bring our cares to him and he assures us that he really does care for us. He's never too busy, or distracted, or too tired to hear and answer. He doesn't refuse to answer because of our weakness and failure. He doesn't get impatient because we have to come again and again. He is love and he loves to exercise his power and glory to meet the needs of his struggling children.
2. Because of his grace. Grace provides the whole structure and standing of our relationship with him. If it weren't for the grandeur of his forgiving grace, we would have no relationship with him at all. Because of his grace, he's unwilling to rest until the work of transformation is complete. In grace he looks on us and knows that this work isn't done. We've not yet been completely formed into the likeness of his Son. Although the power of sin has been broken, he knows that the presence of sin still remains. He hears our prayers because, when we pray, we confess that we still need the grace of forgiveness and deliverance, and in so doing, place ourselves in the center of what he's committed himself to complete; his work of redemption.
3. Because of his faithfulness. He doesn't change his mind. He doesn't ride the roller coaster of the rise and fall of emotions. His heart isn't a battle-zone of conflicting motivations. He doesn't get bored, exhausted, or distracted. He won't quit what he's begun. He won't forsake those upon whom he's placed his love. He won't harden his heart, shut down his mind, and turn his back. He won't take a break or go to sleep. He will never tell you that you've asked too much or you've come to him too often. You never have to work to figure him out. You never have to wonder if his response to you will change. He's absolutely faithful to every promise he's made and every provision he's offered. Your hope in prayer is rooted in his faithfulness, not yours.
4. For the sake of his kingdom. As I come him in the patterns laid out by Christ and pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," I pray words that bring him delight. He loves the exercise of his will. He finds joy in the success of his kingdom. The spiritual growth and prosperity of his children means the growth and prosperity of his kingdom. He is King and he delights in his children recognizing his lordship and submitting to his rule. Every good thing he does for his children is done to rescue them from their self-focused kingdom of one, and to welcome them into the expansiveness of his kingdom of glory and grace. And his ears will continue to be attentive and his hands will be active until his kingdom has been fully and completely established forever.
5. For the sake of his glory. The thing that God is most committed to is his own glory. But here's what you need to understand. His commitment to his own glory is your only hope. Because he's committed to his own glory, he's committed to draw to himself a multitude of people who forsake their own glory and do the one thing that they were created to do; live for his. So his commitment to his own glory causes him to listen and respond, listen and respond until all of his children no longer look to the shadow glories of creation for their satisfaction, but rather look to him. Because he's committed to his own glory, I can go to him in prayer knowing that he'll hear and he'll answer.
So even though you've nothing to bring to the Lord that would commend you to him, you can approach him with confidence. He really does delight in hearing and answering his children. Your hope in prayer is never found in you, it's always found in him.
Ephesians 2:8-10 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship. created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
God has provided us with supporters like the Ministry To The Poor, a US based help group headed by Bro. Carlitos Ochoa, his sister-in-law, Lani Ochoa who came from Pampanga to assist us, sent medicines to augment ours and Marapong Barangay Council headed by their Barangay Captain, Ferdinand Balisado with his very hospitable wife, the Balisado sisters and brothers from Dapitan and Dipolog Cities , the Balisado patriach who is a councilor of Dapitan City made the event a huge success..a bonus side-trip to Dakak resort was accorded for our tired bones. special mention also to the 1st Light Armor Battalion and 55th Infantry Battalion, with Major Dalman and a Colonel, which I failed to get his name, provided us security details for the entire duration of the mission..And Pastors from Alliance churches of Carupe, Roxas and nearby area helped in the evangelism and will follow-up the people of Brgy. Marapong.
